This invention relates to a cassette loading/unloading apparatus for cassette tape recorder.
In a slot-in type cassette tape recorder utilizing a toggle spring, a cassette is pushed into a cassette holder against the biasing force of the toggle spring at cassette insertion until it reaches the neutral point of the toggle spring. When the neutral point of the toggle spring is passed, the biasing force of the toggle spring acts so as to draw the cassette in the cassette holder, and thus the cassette is instant drawn into the cassette holder. The stroke of the cassette terminating at the neutral point of the toggle spring is called pushing-in stroke, while the stroke starting at the neutral point is called drawing-in stroke. The length of each stroke is proportional to the biasing force produced in the toggle spring. If the drawing-in stroke is large, the biasing force of the toggle spring to act after the cassette is drawn in the cassette holder may be set at a high level, so that the cassette can be loaded securely. If the pushing-in stroke is large, on the other hand, the biasing force of the toggle spring to act as an ejecting force at cassette ejection may be set at a high level, so that the cassette ejection can be ensured.
The biasing force of the toggle spring which acts in the drawing-in stroke, however, acts as a resisting force against the action of an ejecting plate at the cassette ejection. If the drawing-in stroke is large, therefore, the action of the ejecting plate will be unsmooth, so that the ejecting plate will have to be operated with a greater pushing force at the cassette ejection.
Staar and counter-Staar type cassette tape recorders are known as slot-in type cassette tape recorders.